Macrobiotic Diet Benefits & Foods

A macrobiotic diet is an art of balancing health and diet by adopting a healthier lifestyle and natural, organic, and low-fat foods along with maintaining an active routine. Regular diet plans are all designed to encourage immediate weight loss but Macrobiotic Diet is all about making our body healthy and bringing back the vitality that all of us yearn for. It is free from age limitations as this diet plan is fit for the entire family from older people to kids.

It is widely believed that what we eat and the way food is prepared induces great impact on our whole body. Modern-day diet and lifestyle patterns have somehow managed to adversely affect human health and the result is the never-ending array of chronic degenerative diseases. This means age is not the real culprit over here and our general health issues are majorly a product of our food choices and eating methods. Only a productive and substantial change in these patterns can lead to a healthier and blessed life. This is what macrobiotics intends to do.

What does Macrobiotic Mean?

Macrobiotic is a Greek term. It is a combination of two words Macro (meaning great) and Bios (meaning life). When combined, the word becomes macrobiotic, which means the path to long and healthy life. Involving macrobiotics in your life is to practically apply natural laws of change. The idea was originally developed by George Oshawa. Oshawa developed macrobiotic theory, which is applicable to all aspects of life, most importantly, health and diet.

What is a Macrobiotic Diet?

A macrobiotic diet is a complete system that utilizes traditional ways and scientific information to ensure that all the current health challenges are addressed and overall health is improved. The diet involves understanding the Asian philosophy of Yin and Yang and making certain changes in eating habits, lifestyle, and meal options, in order to remain fit and healthy. Brown rice, quinoa, spelt, rye, barley, millet, teff grain, vegetables are good macrobiotic foods. However, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, potatoes, avocados, and spinach should be avoided. Immense stress is laid upon chewing food properly, eating regularly, maintaining an active lifestyle, and harboring positive mental perspectives.

Benefits of a Macrobiotic Diet

A macrobiotic diet is not actually a conventional diet program because it deals with much more than a specific menu plan; it encourages people to understand the impact of food on body, environment, and attitude. This is why the benefits of the macrobiotic diet are extremely varied. Let’s have a look at ten of the most prominent health benefits of Macrobiotic Diet below:

Promotes Natural Healing

Through a macrobiotic diet, it becomes possible to allow natural healing of our body. When the body doesn’t get burdened with excesses and toxins, all of its functions are improved and ailments are cured.

Maintains pH Balance

Lifeforce, unarguably, is present in every human being and it is categorized as yin and yang. Yin foods like watermelon and cucumbers have a cooling effect, while yang foods like pepper, coffee, and chili are hot. Consumption of both yin and yang foods in a balanced manner allows maintaining perfect pH. This balance allows the body to remain active and healthy.

Boosts Immunity

A macrobiotic diet is aimed at maintaining optimal pH balance of our body, which is important for the immune system. When we eat fresh and organic vegetables our body receives Vitamin C from fruits and vegetables, phytonutrients from plants. Since foods like tomatoes and green veggies and ferment food items, our immunity systems gets an instant boost.

Fights Degenerative Diseases

Degenerative diseases like cancer are hard to eliminate completely from the human body. However, with a macrobiotic diet, it is possible to treat and/or prevent cancer. According to research by American Cancer Society, plant-based, high-fiber, and low-fat diets are extremely helpful in curing cancer. Dieters are required to consume whole grains, beans, legumes, and foods that are low in saturated fat, therefore, it becomes possible to prevent some types of cancer including breast cancer.

Weight loss

Since macrobiotic dieters rely completely on organic food products and refrain from eating animal fat and processed items, it is believed to be one of the best weight loss diets. Followers of macrobiotic diet cook food only in clay pots or cast iron utensils and avoid using electricity for cooking; they prefer to bake, steam, boil, stew, and pressure cook food, and this is why they experience speedy weight loss and is considered to be one of the best overall diet plans.

Lowers risk of Diabetes

If you are suffering from Type 2 Diabetes or want to prevent it from affecting your body, it would be a wise idea to switch to a macrobiotic diet. A research published in the World Journal of Diabetes revealed that macrobiotic diet is rich in carbohydrates, vegetables, and whole grains while it prohibits consumption of animal fat, protein, and sugar. This strategy helps in improving metabolism, blood sugar, serum lipid profile, blood pressure, glycosylated hemoglobin, BMI (body-mass-index), and overall weight.

Prevents Heart Problems

Research indicates that macrobiotic diet encourages “low serum lipid levels and blood pressure” among people, which otherwise are relatively higher in the general population. Therefore, it is indicated that macrobiotic diet is an effective strategy to prevent cardiovascular diseases.

Enhances Lifespan

Adopting lifestyle changes that are in-sync with the laws of nature and encourage a balance of energies ensures enhanced lifespan because our body remains active and healthy for long. As soon as we initiate a macrobiotic diet, our body begins to clear out toxins and the healing process begins where all kinds of inherent health issues are addressed and fixed. Therefore, it is said that macrobiotic diet leads to longer and healthier life.

Relieves Stress

When we eat fresh, organic food, we attain peace of mind because we realize that we are harmonizing our lifestyle and diet with the laws of the universe and movement of energy. This feeling provides inner peace. We feel lighter and more active since we are not eating foods that make us aggressive, such as animal meat or products that are not beneficial for our health like processed foods.

Improves Digestive Process

The macrobiotic diet emphasizes on including fiber-rich foods in our daily diets such as whole grains, fresh fruits, and vegetables. These help our body in obtaining an abundance of useful fiber, minerals, and vitamins that lead to effective and efficient detoxification. Thus, our body’s digestive power is improved tremendously.

Vanya is a passionate writer with interest in the field of health, nutrition, culture, and lifestyle. She wants to spread awareness about mental health and how to tackle it. Apart from work, she spends her time reading books, watching movies, listening to music, and sometimes just collecting her thoughts. One may often find her interacting with nature and its various aspects.

Rate this article

Average rating 3.2 out of 5.0 based on 4 user(s).

Sign-up for our wellness newsletter

Do you want the best of science-backed health & nutrition information in your inbox? If yes, please share your email to subscribe.